MDU registrar misinformed HC
Selection as Reader
Rohtak, April 10
It seems Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) registrar S.P. Vats has an X-ray vision or is blessed with some supernatural power. How else can one explain his counsel’s submission in the High Court that Vats was selected as a reader at the department of defence and strategic studies of the MDU much before the sealed cover containing the selection record was opened by the university authorities?

Withdrawal of increments to teachers quashed
Chandigarh, April 10
Taking up a bunch of 138 petitions filed by JBT and other teachers in the state of Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today quashed an order withdrawing increments granted to the petitioners.

Panipat flyover to open only after June
Panipat, April 10
It is official now. The much awaited flyover at Panipat will be operational only after June.
In another move that may cause much embarrassment to state agencies, the
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has objected to the “unfounded”
public statements of the Haryana PWD minister and the commissioner of the PWD
regarding opening of the flyover “soon”.

Congress leader joins BSP
Setback to ruling party
Gurgaon, April 10
The ruling Congress party suffered a major political setback as its top leader from dominating Meo community as well as the president of the district Congress unit of Mewat, Zakir Hussain, resigned from the party and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the presence of the party supremo and UP Chief Minister, Mayawati, in Delhi today.

A child lights earthen lamps at Mata Sankat Mochan Mandir in Rohtak on the occasion of Navratras.
— A Tribune photograph

Agitating MC staff see ray of hope
Faridabad, April 10
Employees of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) along with those already retrenched yesterday got reason to cheer after about a fortnight of their agitation relating to security of their services.

Inter-state gang busted, six arrested
Sonepat, April 10
The police has busted an inter-state gang of dacoits by arresting its six members identified as Shahbudin, Ashraf, Deepak Tyagi, Imran, Nasim and Nanhu of Uttar Pradesh.

Medicine Scam
Hand over case to vigilance: Prisons dept
Chandigarh, April 10
The prisons department of the Haryana police has recommended that the recently detected medicine scam in Hisar Central Jail be handed over to the vigilance department
for investigation.

Bankers’ lackadaisical attitude delays scheme
Scholarships to SC students
Fatehabad, April 10
Owing to lackadaisical attitude of bankers and the authorities concerned, a scheme of the state education department to provide grants and scholarships to Schedule Caste students through banks is hanging in balance.

School board results on April 17
Chandigarh, April 10
The Board of School Education, Haryana, will declare the results of the middle and secondary examinations, conducted in February, 2008, on April 17.

SAD opposes separate SGPC
Ambala, April 10
The Shiromani Akali Dal, Haryana, has expressed concern over the statement of Haryana Chief Minister in which he backed the formation of a separate SGPC for Haryana while raising the issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Declared dead by doc, baby found alive
Rohtak, April 10
Vivek, a six-day-old infant of Sanghera village in Kalanaur block of the district, who was declared dead by a doctor of the local PGIMS here today, was later found alive.

Fill vacant posts in depts: CS
Chandigarh, April 10
Haryana chief secretary Dharamvir today directed the administrative secretaries of all departments that a drive to clear the general backlog of government jobs should be launched by filling up all vacant posts in various departments of the state. He also directed them to chalk out an action plan for centrally-sponsored schemes by May 15 so that optimum benefits of these schemes could percolate to the people.

Thalassaemia centre opened
Yamunanagar, April 10
The state's first thalassaemia centre was inaugurated at the Mukand Lal Civil Hospital by Krishna Pandit, local MLA and parliamentary secretary, health, here today.

Tremors in Jind
Jind, April 10
A quake of mild intensity hit parts of the town and the district this evening. It was 3.5 on the Richter scale. No loss of life and damage to property has been reported.

Wheat on 6 acres reduced to ashes
Jind, April 10
Wheat crop on at least six acres was reduced to ashes due to an a fire that started in the fields of Bighana village in the district this morning.

5 teachers found absent
Kaithal, April 10
Five teachers, including two guest teachers, were allegedly found absent from a government school during a raid conducted by Kaithal ADC Ramesh Verma here today.

4 booked on charge of murder
Yamunanagar, April 10
The police has booked four persons for the alleged murder of a 29-year-old man, whose body was found lying in Saraswati river here on March 24.

Rohtak, April 10
It seems Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) registrar S.P. Vats has an X-ray vision or is blessed with some supernatural power. How else can one explain his counsel’s submission in the High Court that Vats was selected as a reader at the department of defence and strategic studies of the MDU much before the sealed cover containing the selection record was opened by the university authorities?

As per an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court dated February 27, 2008, a copy of which is in the possession of The Tribune, the counsel for petitioners (including Vats) had submitted that Vats was selected (for the aforesaid post), but not appointed in view of the ban on appointments. It was on the basis of this order that the MDU executive council later approved Vats’ appointment as a reader.

However, as a matter of fact, the selection record was in a sealed cover till March 17, 2008. The decision to open the seal was taken at the 193rd meeting of the MDU executive council held on March 17 in pursuance of the aforesaid order.

As per the official record of the council meeting, “In case the name of Vats figures in the proceedings of the selection committee preserved in a sealed cover, a post will be required to be transferred in the department of defence and strategic studies…” This clearly means that prior to this, even the university authorities did not know whether Vats had been selected.

Hence, before March 17, it was officially and technically not possible for the registrar to know that he had been selected as a reader. Still, he stated in the High Court through his counsel that he had been selected.

On being contacted, MDU vice-chancellor R.P. Hooda maintained that the registrar had committed a legal blunder by officially stating before a court of law something which he was not supposed to know.

Vats failed to give a satisfactory reply regarding the matter. On being reached on his mobile phone, he parried direct questions put to him in this regard by this correspondent.

The deft manoeuvring of the whole issue by the registrar to his benefit is further indicated by the fact that another co-petitioner in the case is still making rounds of the court and the university authorities for selection despite her case being exactly similar to that of Vats.

Moreover, since there was no vacant post of reader in the department of defence and strategic studies, one post of reader was transferred to the department from the department of physics to accommodate the registrar.

It seems that the MDU authorities have devised a sure-fire way of validating their decisions by citing court orders. The Tribune had recently carried a news report highlighting how the MDU authorities had decided to run a special MEd session in the name of High Court orders. Actually, there were no such orders directing the university administration to run a special academic session. Having got away with it, the university authorities used the tried and tested formula to approve Vats’ selection.

In its order dated February 27, 2008, the High Court asked the MDU authorities just to consider the case of Vats. Hence, approving his selection (made in 1998) was not binding on them.

In 2000, the MDU executive council had refused to consider the said selection(s) made in 1998 on the ground that these had become “quite old”. The council had held that need-based recruitment be carried out as per the revised workload. Still, the same selection has been approved as late as in 2008. That’s how the “system” works!

Chandigarh, April 10
Taking up a bunch of 138 petitions filed by JBT and other teachers in the state of Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today quashed an order withdrawing increments granted to the petitioners.

Pronouncing the orders in an open court, a high court Division Bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice K.C. Puri also directed that recovery on the basis of a letter issued in this regard would not be made.

The Judges added if any amount was recovered from any of the petitioners on account of the re-fixing of pay on the basis of a communique, the same would be refunded within six months from today.

The petitioners, Om Parkash and others, including JBT and head teachers in the Haryana Education Department, had earlier challenged the order vide which their pay was reduced and the recovery was ordered.

It was contended that the petitioners were granted the benefit of an increment in the revised pay scale for every three increments with effect from January 1, 1996. Accordingly, their pay was fixed.

But on August 22, 2003, the Finance Department circulated a letter, in compliance of which the petitioners’ pay was fixed again by reducing one or two increments, with the condition that any excess payment would be recovered. Describing the orders as arbitrary and illegal, the petitioners had contended they were unjust and contrary to the Revised Pay Rules and the ACP Rules of 1998.

Panipat, April 10
It is official now. The much awaited flyover at Panipat will be operational only after June.

In another move that may cause much embarrassment to state agencies, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has objected to the “unfounded” public statements of the Haryana PWD minister and the commissioner of the PWD regarding opening of the flyover “soon”.

Rubbishing the claim of K.K. Jalan, commissioner and secretary, PWD, about its “early opening”, NHAI officials said substantial work was still pending on the project.

On Tuesday, Jalan had claimed that the flyover would be operational by the end of April or in the first week of May.

Capt Ajay Yadav, PWD minister, on December 10 last had stated that the flyover would be opened to the public in February.

Talking to this correspondent today, Sanjay Tripathi, project director of the NHAI, said nothing had been finalised on its
opening yet.

He said chief general manager A.K. Bajaj had inspected the site yesterday, but no final decision had been taken.

Tripathi said construction work on the drain near Baburpur was yet to be completed for which certain parts were needed to
be imported.

He also rubbished the reported statements by the Haryana PWD commissioner on the toll tax. “It is unfair to comment on the issue as the union government is yet to decide the final toll rates,” he added.

The Rs 325-crore state-of-the-art flyover is being executed by L&T Panipat Elevated Corridor Pvt Ltd on the built-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

The 10-km-long highway at Panipat, including a 3.4-km elevated stretch, has January 2009 as the
deadline.

Gurgaon, April 10
The ruling Congress party suffered a major political setback as its top leader from dominating Meo community as well as the president of the district Congress unit of Mewat, Zakir Hussain, resigned from the party and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the presence of the party supremo and UP Chief Minister, Mayawati, in Delhi today.

Since he was also declared as the official BSP candidate in the Lok Sabha elections due next year from Gurgaon constituency that covers Mewat district, the development is likely to wean away the sizeable chunk of minority votes comprising Meo community and Muslims.

Of the total around 12 lakh voters in the constituency, the Meo community accounts for about 4 lakh votes in the Mewat area. The community dominates Vidhan Sabha constituencies of Hathin, Punana, Ferozepur Zhirka and Nuh
in Haryana.

Hussain told The Tribune that he decided to resign as minorities as well as Mewat area was being ignored under the Congress government in the state.

Sources, however, said Hussain was unsure of getting the party ticket in the Lok Sabha elections, as the sitting MP and union minister for state, Rao Inderjeet Singh, was publicly projecting himself as the prospective Congress
candidate.

Hussain was the president of the district Congress unit till he resigned. He is son of the Congress stalwart and former minister in Haryana and Rajasthan governments Tayab Hussain. The latter is known to have swayed over more than 3 crore-strong Meo community in the country.

Coming as it does before the Lok Sabha elections next year, the development is being considered as bad omen for the Congress in the state.

Political observers see Hussain’s induction into the BSP as a political move by Mayawati that is bound to have electoral repercussions in the Haryana politics.

She had made her intentions known while addressing the recent party rally in Karnal. Sources said as a part of her game plan, several prominent Brahmin and Gujjar leaders in the state were likely to be roped in.

Faridabad, April 10
Employees of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) along with those already retrenched yesterday got reason to cheer after about a fortnight of their agitation relating to security of their services.

The employees met minister for local bodies A.C. Chaudhary, who assured them of sympathetic consideration regarding their demand.

The minister also told the employees that he had already directed the commissioner of the MCF to submit a report within three days on issues relating to the demand of the employees and how could it be met.

The employees, who had been staging dharnas and demonstrations outside the main gate of the MCF, held a demonstration outside the residence of the minister. They also submitted a memorandum to him relating to their demand.

Jobs of about 1,519 employees are on line as the issue is pending in the Punjab and Haryana High court and is awaiting disposal, which is expected soon.

The employees were retrenched in 2001. However, more than 400 were taken back and others could not be taken till the disposal of the case by the court. The main order of the government, which sought to do away with the services of the employees, has been challanged in the court. In case, the court upholds the order of the government, those who were taken back will also lose their jobs.

Sonepat, April 10
The police has busted an inter-state gang of dacoits by arresting its six members identified as Shahbudin, Ashraf, Deepak Tyagi, Imran, Nasim and Nanhu of Uttar Pradesh.

It has also seized two country-made pistols, a live cartridge, a jeep and a 10-tyre dumper from their possession.

SSP Navdeep Singh Virk said on Tuesday night a patrolling team of the Rai police station and Garh Mirakpur police post got information that some armed youths were standing near Palra village and were planning to loot trucks on the Bahalgarh-Baghpat road. The police raided the place and nabbed all six gangsters. One of the gangsters even fired a round at the police and made an unsuccessful attempt to escape.

During interrogation, they confessed to have looted two trucks from Panipat, two from Yamunanagar district and a truck from the Sonepat Truck Union about two months back.

About their modus operandi, the SSP said 8-10 more youths of Uttar Pradesh were members of this gang and they operated in the groups of four or six. After looting the vehicle, they used to hand it over to a person named as Yushuf Ali, who used to pay Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 to each one of them.

Chandigarh, April 10
The prisons department of the Haryana police has recommended that the recently detected medicine scam in Hisar Central Jail be handed over to the vigilance department
for investigation.

The department, in its recommendation to the Haryana government, has also suggested that medicine purchases from 2000 be thoroughly examined. The DG (prisons), Dr John V George, said the department had recommended handing over of the scam investigations to the vigilance department since analysing the data was a painstaking exercise. “The district police that is looking into the matter is not equipped to handle this kind of investigation which will require a complete study of all purchase records since it requires a lot of time,” he said. Adding that the scam to the tune of Rs 11 lakh detected at the jail was important because the medicines had been taken in the names of prisoners, who had not benefited from the purchases at all.

“The amount per se is not important but the fact that they claimed to have spent nearly Rs 50 lakh against Rs 14 lakh expenditure by other jails with nearly the same prisoner strength without passing on the benefit to the prisoners is reason for concern,” he said. Though the district police has registered a case based on the scam detected for the current year, the prisons department has further recommended that the purchases, which took place from the time the pharmacist and the doctor took over, need to be examined.

“Purchases to the tune of Rs 2 crore have been made since the duo got posted there. Though we will not be able to cross-check with the prisoners if they were given the medicines mentioned in the register, there may be other bogus bills which may get detected from the records,” he added.

According to sources in the state prisons department, mere partial checking of faulty purchase procedure revealed a bungling of over Rs 11 lakh by way of cooked up data, no account of issuing of medicines, bogus bills and inflated prices of medicines. Prisons sleuths had raided the jail campus in February and seized records pertaining to medicine purchases worth Rs 46.46 lakh from January 1 to December 31, 2007.

After completing investigations, the department lodged an FIR against officials, including a medical officer, pharmacist, jail superintendent, deputy jailer and three chemists of Hisar district at Civil Lines police station. The prisons department has written to the Hisar police to give a detailed report on why the medical officer, arrested in the case, taken on police remand and thereafter sent to judicial custody, was admitted to the general hospital without taking him inside the central jail, Hisar.

The department has clearly held that according to the jail manual, the jail superintendent was as responsible for the fraud as the doctor or the pharmacist or the deputy superintendent jails. However, while the pharmacist is yet to be arrested though his anticipatory bail has been rejected, the department has received no report of action against the jail superintendent, who continues to hold her position despite registration of an
FIR against her.

Fatehabad, April 10
Owing to lackadaisical attitude of bankers and the authorities concerned, a scheme of the state education department to provide grants and scholarships to Schedule Caste students through banks is hanging in balance.

Though the education authorities here had been directed by the directorate of school education to complete the process of opening the accounts of all Schedule Caste students in the district by March 31, not much headway has been made so far in this direction.

Varsha Khanagwal, joint director of the directorate of school education, Haryana, who was here today to review the progress in this regard, confirmed that not more that 50 per cent accounts had been opened so far in the district.

Only 1,022 accounts had been opened in Bhuna block of the district till today where 6,876 students belonging to the Schedule Caste category were on rolls.

The state government has been providing a number of benefits for Schedule Castes students pursuing their studies in government schools of Haryana. Funds for these schemes were provided to students through their school heads, leaving chances of siphoning off the funds at any point starting from the directorate to the district education offices to the block education offices and finally to the school heads.

The government recently took a decision to merge all these schemes into a one compact scheme and provide funds under this new scheme to the Schedule Caste students through banks only. The government directed nationalised banks to open accounts of all Schedule Caste students with zero balance and also asked the officers of the education department to finish the process of opening of the accounts before March 31, so that the scheme could be started from April 1.

But most of the banks are not keen to open accounts of Schedule Caste students as the accounts will not boost their business but will add to their workload. When the school staff approached the banks allotted to their respective schools in March, they expressed their helplessness to oblige due to annual closing, but even after the start of the new financial year, they have been dilly-dallying the things on one excuse or the other.

P.S. Shilla, lead district manager (LDM), whose duty is to coordinate between various nationalised banks and the district authorities for implementation of the government schemes, said it was not possible for any bank to open 30 to 40 new accounts in a day. He alleged that the authorities in the education department were themselves to blame for the delays as their staff was not willing to learn proper filling of account opening forms.

Chandigarh, April 10
The Board of School Education, Haryana, will declare the results of the middle and secondary examinations, conducted in February, 2008, on April 17.

While stating this, an official spokesman said the results would be displayed in the respective schools at 3 p.m. on the same day. Besides, these would also be made available in various
newspapers.

He said the candidates could also log on to the board's website <http://hbse.nic.in/> and other websites—www.indiaresults.com, www.rediff.com, www. sify.com and www.dialnetindia.com — for
the results.

He said the results could also be obtained by calling BSNL-12555, Airtel-56666, 543212, Vodafone-56789, Idea-55456, 53030, Tata-12900 from mobile phones.

To avail themselves of the SMS facility the candidates could type 8th HB08 for the middle results and 10th HB10
for the secondary results and send messages on mobile numbers 5676750, 52424, 57333 and 54545.

Ambala, April 10
The Shiromani Akali Dal, Haryana, has expressed concern over the statement of Haryana Chief Minister in which he backed the formation of a separate SGPC for Haryana while raising the issue with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

A meeting of senior Akali leaders was organised at Gurdwara Manji Sahib in Ambala City today. The meeting was presided over by Gurdeep Singh Bhanokheri, a member of the SGPC.

Rohtak, April 10
Vivek, a six-day-old infant of Sanghera village in Kalanaur block of the district, who was declared dead by a doctor of the local PGIMS here today, was later found alive.

The PGIMS authorities maintain that as per the medical record of the infant, he was operated upon by a senior consultant of the paediatric surgery department. However, the baby was taken away by his parents “against medical advice”, as per his medical record.

A house surgeon (resident doctor), however, wrote on the progress report of the baby that he had expired. PGIMS director S.S. Sangwan said the doctor who had written this on the progress report would be terminated.

Chandigarh, April 10
Haryana chief secretary Dharamvir today directed the administrative secretaries of all departments that a drive to clear the general backlog of government jobs should be launched by filling up all vacant posts in various departments of the state. He also directed them to chalk out an action plan for centrally-sponsored schemes by May 15 so that optimum benefits of these schemes could percolate to the people.

The chief secretary was presiding over the first meeting of the administrative secretaries here today, since he took over as CS in March. He directed all heads of the departments that they should prepare their websites highlighting the welfare schemes of their respective departments. He also directed that a committee should be constituted to improve the performa of the ACRs.

A 10-member delegation under the chairmanship of executive director of World Bank Dhanender Kumar would visit Haryana in May to study the viability of the schemes forwarded by the state government to the World Bank for seeking financial assistance.He said a reform committee of Parliament would also visit Haryana on April 25.

Yamunanagar, April 10
The state's first thalassaemia centre was inaugurated at the Mukand Lal Civil Hospital by Krishna Pandit, local MLA and parliamentary secretary, health, here today.

Presiding over the function, Pandit advised doctors to wear gloves during blood donation camps. She also examined a child thalassaemia patient.

She donated Rs 1 lakh for the newly inaugurated block and assured the district administration to extend additional financial help for thalassaemics.

The MLA appreciated the effects of the Red Cross Society, Yamunanagar, and private doctors for their help in establishing the thalassaemia centre and also the financial help extended by Saraswati Sugar Mill.

Jind, April 10
Wheat crop on at least six acres was reduced to ashes due to an a fire that started in the fields of Bighana village in the district this morning.

Fire engines were pressed into service to control the blaze that resulted in a loss to three farmers.

Wheat stubs, used as fodder for cattle, on four acres were also burnt. According to reports, the fire started due to sparking caused by the engine of a tractor while harvested wheat was being taken out by Mehar Singh, a farmer, for sale in the mandi.

Kaithal, April 10
Five teachers, including two guest teachers, were allegedly found absent from a government school during a raid conducted by Kaithal ADC Ramesh Verma here today.

The ADC ordered the deduction of one-day salary of the absentee teachers.

Residents of Tatiyana village had complained that some teachers had not been attending their duty at Government Middle School in the village. The ADC reached the school at 7.50 am and remained there till 8.30 am and till then Arjan Singh, Manjeet Kaur, Balwinder Singh, regular teachers, and Neena Garg and Balraj, guest teachers, had not turned up.

Yamunanagar, April 10
The police has booked four persons for the alleged murder of a 29-year-old man, whose body was found lying in Saraswati river here on March 24.

The deceased, Parmesh, a resident of Chappar, had left his home on March 23 and did not return. The next day his family was informed about the body. There were injury marks on his head. His father Jagmal Singh had alleged that it was a case of murder. After investigations, the police yesterday booked Rupinder (Mustfabad), Ramesh Kumar (Chappar), Vinod Kumar (Munda Majra) and Rajinder (Chaudhary colony here).